h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dying on stage?

Yes. Hearse comes from the French "herce" which meant a rake. The original hease had spikes around the side to hold the coffin in, which made it look like a rake. To rehearse is to "rake over" the material, doing it again.

So what is the connection between 'hearse' and 'rake'?

Herce is the old French for rake.

I understand that, but where is the connection between that and a hearse?

A hearse was a horse drawn carriage which you put a coffin on top of. There was a rake-like border around the top of the carriage to prevent the coffin from slipping off, so they called the carriage a herce, because it looked like it had a herce on it.

You rehearsed that explanation nobly, Gnomon.

China bans English:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12050067


~jwf~

Yeah, the French tried that -- the Academie got fed up of le smoking, le weekend . . . there are some phrases you just have to borrow, faute de mieux.

Remember when the US decided to blank the French for
not ponying up on the Iraq invasion thingy?

French fries became freedom fries.

Happily, the average attention span of Americans stopped them short
of needing to find alternatives for French doors, frenched sheets and
french kisses. Haute cuisine hardly ever came up in conversation.


~jwf~

Where would you Americans be without your entrées and your French press coffee?

Up the Swanny without a paddle steamer, probably...

t.

Hmmm . . . how many believe GWB wasn't joking when he said there was no French word for entrepreneur?

Here's a question that's been bothering me.

In Canada kids play a game called British Bulldog.
Is it unique to Canada?
And why is it called British Bulldog?

If that name is not familiar let me describe the game.

Two teams line up facing each other about ten feet apart. Any
number can play but obviously each team needs at least two, so
it was often played at school where larger numbers could be enlisted.

By turns each team joins hands (by interlocking fingers or grasping
each others' wrists) and begins to chant at the other team: "Red Rover,
Red Rover, let (name of opposing team member) come over!"

The named person must then charge at the line and try to break thru
by throwing himself at the link between any pair.

There may have been points scored and some other rules but all
I can remember is the struggle to maintain the line against the
full force of the heavier opponents who sometimes threw themselves
bodily at the line, leaping into the air and bringing their full weight
to bear.

I wonder if this game is called something else in Britain.


~jwf~

PS: I did look it up on Wiki, just in case it was a stupid question,
but I found the entry there to be vague about the catching bit and
introduced several other elements I'd never heard of including a much
larger pitch. There's no mention of holding hands and sounds more like
a cross between British rugby and tag and involves tackling people to
the ground.

This 'official' American Boy Scout version is more
like a lion stalking a rushing herd. One predator
picks out the most likely victim from the group.

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/game/game-361.asp

Here`s a playable online version that has no hand-holding
defensive line and just seems like rugby without the ball.

http://www.freeplaynow.com/online-games/play/1545/british-bulldog.html

I've heard of it - but pretty rarely and in no detail. What you describe fits the spirit of it, I reckon.
No recollection from schooldays (though we did have Fives and, even, Rugby)

just googled 'Red Rover'. See, eg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rover

That looks a bit like it? Red Rover, Bullrush, Forcing the City Gates, Octopus Tag.

I'll now read on a bit

Common schookboy game in the part of Essex I grew up in - under the name of british Bulldogs. Permission was given to play in the school hall on very rainy days. Girls not allowed in the 1950s.